I am not a fan of Bernie Ecclestone, however, and I feel he runs F1 in a very arbitrary way. His tenure can't last forever, though.

I don't think there's anyone that is any way associated with F1 that likes Bernie. I've tried to read up on the matter, but I just don't understand how one man was able to seize so much power in F1. He is good for a laugh from time to time, though. A reporter once asked him if he thinks having a female driver in F1 would help the sport's image, he replied something along the lines of:

"What I would really like to see happen is to find the right girl, perhaps a black girl with super looks, preferably Jewish or Muslim, who speaks Spanish."

I also love me some V8 Supercars, and will make sure to attend the race in Austin next year. Ironically, the closest thing you can get to American Trans Am racing from the '60s is the Australian V8 Supercars series. Speaking of Australia, the Bathurst circuit is one of a true hidden gems of the racing world. What an epic track!

There are a couple of Aussies on my recovery team and they have some amazing stories from back home. They told me that a few years back the “powers that be” decided to limit the booze the fans can take in on race weekend, this was to stop the annual sporadic violence between Holden and Ford fans, however (notice how every good story has a however ); the fans got smarter and simply went the week before and buried cases of beer in the camping area to combat the restriction!!!Funnily enough, I start work for the Australian Government in 3 weeks, we share one thing in common already!!!

I am not a fan of Bernie Ecclestone, however, and I feel he runs F1 in a very arbitrary way. His tenure can't last forever, though.

I don't think there's anyone that is any way associated with F1 that likes Bernie. I've tried to read up on the matter, but I just don't understand how one man was able to seize so much power in F1. He is good for a laugh from time to time, though. A reporter once asked him if he thinks having a female driver in F1 would help the sport's image, he replied something along the lines of:

"What I would really like to see happen is to find the right girl, perhaps a black girl with super looks, preferably Jewish or Muslim, who speaks Spanish."

That's a riot!! You also didn't mention his obvious attempt to mimic the look of Andy Warhol. Very odd looking little man...

I just watched Hakkinen manhandle his McLaren through Eau Rouge at least a dozen times in a row, so I guess I'm not that much brighter than the NASCAR fans I'm poking fun at

Thanks very much, that was superb! Makes all the races I've watched over the last 5 years look very very boring. Spa is the first place I will go, preferably to the F1 race there...when I finally visit Europe. Would also like to see the race in Budapest...besides the city. Monte Carlo would be third, and Monza fourth on my list.

The cars look faster back then; I know they cost a lot more and had active stability control, besides more power and more displacement. 2014 will see their displacement cut to basically half what it was in the early 2000's! If this trend continues, then 10 or 15 years from now there will probably be no more F1, and probably no more motor racing of any kind. Only sailboats and solar powered bicycles...People are stupid!

I just watched Hakkinen manhandle his McLaren through Eau Rouge at least a dozen times in a row, so I guess I'm not that much brighter than the NASCAR fans I'm poking fun at

Thanks very much, that was superb! Makes all the races I've watched over the last 5 years look very very boring. Spa is the first place I will go, preferably to the F1 race there...when I finally visit Europe. Would also like to see the race in Budapest...besides the city. Monte Carlo would be third, and Monza fourth on my list.

The cars look faster back then; I know they cost a lot more and had active stability control, besides more power and more displacement. 2014 will see their displacement cut to basically half what it was in the early 2000's! If this trend continues, then 10 or 15 years from now there will probably be no more F1, and probably no more motor racing of any kind. Only sailboats and solar powered bicycles...People are stupid!

The genious of this was the fact that he had tried to overtake for a few laps at that point already, then he back off to be able to go flat through Eau Rouge carrying even more speed on to the straight. Poor Ricardo Zonta in the BAR didn't even know what happened when the Ferrari and the McLaren passed him. Mika doing an Elvis on the podium was also superb.

2014 will see their displacement cut to basically half what it was in the early 2000's!

I'm so excited about he 2014 season that I can hardly contain myself. IMHO, I think the massive technical regulation changes will mean that slower yet more reliable cars will prevail over faster yet more failure prone cars. If I'm not mistaken, the engine allotment per car will be limited to five for the entire season, and exceeding that limit will result in a 10-grid spot penalty.

Having played with turbo motors on an amateur level, I'm eager to see how the engineers will respond to such a massive technical challenge. The exhaust gas temperature on a turbocharged race engine can exceed 1,800 degrees F. That means the exhaust tubing will expand and contract quite a bit, which can lead to blown clamps, and cracks in the tubing itself, which will render a car useless. That flex can have the same detrimental effects on the induction side of the turbo system as well. Then there's the issue of managing engine knock under such high levels of boost, which will be particularly challenging at hotter races like Malaysia and Bahrain. Detonation in a turbocharged engine = rapid destruction!

It harkens back to the 2009 season - the last time F1 saw significant technical changes - where the Red Bulls had great pace, but very poor reliability. McLaren looked hopeless for much of the season, as did Ferrari. Ultimately, Brawn GP had enough pace and reliability to win the championship. Will 2014 see a similar mix-up in results? I can't wait to see

The genious of this was the fact that he had tried to overtake for a few laps at that point already, then he back off to be able to go flat through Eau Rouge carrying even more speed on to the straight. Poor Ricardo Zonta in the BAR didn't even know what happened when the Ferrari and the McLaren passed him. Mika doing an Elvis on the podium was also superb.

I really miss Mika. He retired too soon. Maybe 2014 will see another Fin (Raikonnen) sticking it to another multiple World Champion German (Vettel) ?

It will also be very interesting to see how Alonso responds to having a teammate that can very well drive faster than him. He didn't handle that particularly well at McLaren!

The genious of this was the fact that he had tried to overtake for a few laps at that point already, then he back off to be able to go flat through Eau Rouge carrying even more speed on to the straight. Poor Ricardo Zonta in the BAR didn't even know what happened when the Ferrari and the McLaren passed him. Mika doing an Elvis on the podium was also superb.

I really miss Mika. He retired too soon. Maybe 2014 will see another Fin (Raikonnen) sticking it to another multiple World Champion German (Vettel) ?

It will also be very interesting to see how Alonso responds to having a teammate that can very well drive faster than him. He didn't handle that particularly well at McLaren!

I miss MIka also, very much. He is definitely in the all time top ten list. Courage, skill, intelligence, raw speed, a tactical mind, he had it all, a true racer. I would be very happy to see Kimi beat Seb next year, but I am afraid his back won't let him. Kimi is up there with Mika, Schumi, Alonso, Senna and a few others. One of the great anecdotes about Kimi is when he did his first tests for Sauber, the team saw his lap times and that he was very close to the regular drivers' times. They concluded he would soon be ready to take the next step, then he breaks in on the radio asking when he could start going fast. Jaw dropping moment for the guys and his place in the team was clear.

As for Alonso, I really like him and consider him to be one of the greatest. But like you say, he doesn't handle competition well. It was probably only Massa himself who actually thought he could match Alonso. But he's history now.

I look forward to next year, Newey will build a great car again for RBR but the turbo engines will make sure it's a completely new game.

Not much about photography here. I have a few taken with my old P&S from the Malaysian GP 2005, but not on the computer I'm using now. There's a decent one on JV there. I'll look for it and post it. I miss JV in the sport.

2014 will see their displacement cut to basically half what it was in the early 2000's!

I'm so excited about he 2014 season that I can hardly contain myself. IMHO, I think the massive technical regulation changes will mean that slower yet more reliable cars will prevail over faster yet more failure prone cars. If I'm not mistaken, the engine allotment per car will be limited to five for the entire season, and exceeding that limit will result in a 10-grid spot penalty.

Having played with turbo motors on an amateur level, I'm eager to see how the engineers will respond to such a massive technical challenge. The exhaust gas temperature on a turbocharged race engine can exceed 1,800 degrees F. That means the exhaust tubing will expand and contract quite a bit, which can lead to blown clamps, and cracks in the tubing itself, which will render a car useless. That flex can have the same detrimental effects on the induction side of the turbo system as well. Then there's the issue of managing engine knock under such high levels of boost, which will be particularly challenging at hotter races like Malaysia and Bahrain. Detonation in a turbocharged engine = rapid destruction!

It harkens back to the 2009 season - the last time F1 saw significant technical changes - where the Red Bulls had great pace, but very poor reliability. McLaren looked hopeless for much of the season, as did Ferrari. Ultimately, Brawn GP had enough pace and reliability to win the championship. Will 2014 see a similar mix-up in results? I can't wait to see

It will also kind of hearken back to the 1980's, when F1 used similarly small displacement engines with turbos. I believe they produced well over 1000 peak hp from around 1.5 liters! The power and the chassis were obviously hard to control, though. Interestingly, the fuel they used back then was comprised mostly of toluene, nicknamed "rocket fuel" because it made so much power. I've tried adding it to gasoline to boost octane, and it seems to work well. You just need to allow for the fact that it burns hotter, yet slower than gasoline. Mostly just used it in my 2 stroke atv and dirtbike...as I don't have something like a Veyron parked in my garage like most of you guys...yet! I better hurry up though, I'm not getting any younger, except mentally!

One of the great anecdotes about Kimi is when he did his first tests for Sauber, the team saw his lap times and that he was very close to the regular drivers' times. They concluded he would soon be ready to take the next step, then he breaks in on the radio asking when he could start going fast. Jaw dropping moment for the guys and his place in the team was clear.

As for Alonso, I really like him and consider him to be one of the greatest. But like you say, he doesn't handle competition well. It was probably only Massa himself who actually thought he could match Alonso. But he's history now.

Hadn't heard that story about Kimi before, but it's fascinating nonetheless. I had a chance to meet Kimi at an autograph session in 2003, right after he lost the championship to Schumacher by 1 point. Let's just say that while he's an incredible talent, he's just as personable in real life as he is on TV

Alonso is one heck of a driver as well. My hard head still thinks that Alonso and Hamilton have the edge in talent over Vettel. IMHO, the Ferrari chassis was a 5th or 6th place car much of this season, and the fact that Alonso managed to consistently put it on the podium is nothing short of miraculous. I just don't understand why Luca Di Montezemolo feels the need to criticize Alonso's performance in public when his engineers gave him a mediocre car! Perhaps Luca's forgotten that his teams boneheaded pit strategy cost Fernando the championship in 2010?

It will also kind of hearken back to the 1980's, when F1 used similarly small displacement engines with turbos. I believe they produced well over 1000 peak hp from around 1.5 liters! The power and the chassis were obviously hard to control, though. Interestingly, the fuel they used back then was comprised mostly of toluene, nicknamed "rocket fuel" because it made so much power. I've tried adding it to gasoline to boost octane, and it seems to work well. You just need to allow for the fact that it burns hotter, yet slower than gasoline. Mostly just used it in my 2 stroke atv and dirtbike...as I don't have something like a Veyron parked in my garage like most of you guys...yet! I better hurry up though, I'm not getting any younger, except mentally!

Those motors were nuts. Can you imagine the kind of courage it took to drive around a street course like Monaco - surrounded by concrete barriers - with that much power? I believe those turbo 1.5L motors produced 1,300 - 1,400 hp in qualifying trim. That's nearly 1,000 hp per liter. Incredible!

As for the 2014 motors, the energy recovery systems the teams have come up with are truly ingenious. They employ an electric motor integrated between the turbocharger's compressor and exhaust wheels. As the turbo shaft spins, these motors can either charge the propulsion battery, or at low rpm the motors can draw energy from the battery to spin the turbocharger, thus eliminating turbo lag. There's nothing like this at the OEM level, but I'm sure we'll be seeing similar technology in road cars many years down the road.

Rumor has it that the Mercedes engines have a 100 hp advantage over Renault and Ferrari for next season. That bodes well for Lewis and Jenson, provided Mercedes and McLaren come up with fast, reliable chassis. Perhaps we'll see another Englishman win the championship and make the Queen proud

...I don't think there's anyone that is any way associated with F1 that likes Bernie. I've tried to read up on the matter, but I just don't understand how one man was able to seize so much power in F1.

Well, he came from the bottom when F1 was small and just brought the money to F1 with publicity. He turned it from gentlemans racing to showbusiness. Once he had the control over money and publicity rights, he just forced the FIA to listen to him, and then, took over the FIA and regulation side of the the "sport". Since F1 became a money making machine, teams were also more inclined to oblige...

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What a mess, my camera's sensor is full of massless particules that keep on trying to behave like waves!

...It will also kind of hearken back to the 1980's, when F1 used similarly small displacement engines with turbos. I believe they produced well over 1000 peak hp from around 1.5 liters! The power and the chassis were obviously hard to control, though. Interestingly, the fuel they used back then was comprised mostly of toluene, nicknamed "rocket fuel" because it made so much power. ...as I don't have something like a Veyron parked in my garage like most of you guys...yet!

They also had flat floors and skirts that generated enormous downforce. So much so that the only compliant part of the suspension was the tires otherwise the cars would have been driven into the ground... Those have also been banned by the Bernie.

Now where are the keys to my Pagani, I can only find those of my old beater SLR...

« Last Edit: November 28, 2013, 05:08:45 PM by IMG_0001 »

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What a mess, my camera's sensor is full of massless particules that keep on trying to behave like waves!